da fezbet： Contrary to popular opinion it was the Sri Lankan fast bowlers and notthe spinners that worried the Zimbabwean batsmen at WelegaderaStadium in Kurunegala today
Charlie Austin24-Apr-2000Contrary to popular opinion it was the Sri Lankan fast bowlers and notthe spinners that worried the Zimbabwean batsmen at WelegaderaStadium in Kurunegala today. Despite a fine seventh wicket partnershipof 144 between Andy Blignaut (93) and Daniel Peacock (62), Zimbabweare in trouble at the end of the first day of this unofficial Test match,finishing on 244 for 7.Indika Gallage and the young Kaushalya Weereratne from Kandytroubled all the batsmen. Extracting movement off the seam, especiallywith the new ball, and surprising the batsmen with occasional lift, theyreduced the Zimbabweans to 51-4 in the morning session. Then whenthey returned to the attack in the evening they took the second new balland struck again. Zimbabwe having recovered to 235-5 slipped to 244-7at the close.Andy Blignaut will be particularly disappointed with himself. Having doneall the hard work and with only three overs remaining in the day, he tookthe attack to the Sri Lankan bowlers. Taking 13 off Weereratne’s 17thover he got carried away and was bowled by Gallage whilst tryinganother expansive drive. Nevertheless he deserves praise for a fantasticinnings. Positive from the start he hit the ball cleanly and powerfullythroughout. Most importantly he played straight, the majority of his 13fours and two sixes being hit between cover and wide mid-on.Coming to the wicket with his team in dire straits at 91-5 he turnedaround the innings for the Zimbabweans with the assistance of DanielPeacock. Peacock was the more conservative of the two. Slightly openchested and awkward looking in his stance he worked extremely hard forhis 62 runs, facing 213 balls and occupying the crease for nearly fivehours. Peacock’s conservatism did not matter however because of thepositive strokeplay of his partner. Blignaut was never afraid to hit the ballover the top and did so on numerous occasions. Whilst the pair battedthroughout the afternoon the spinners were made to look pretty ordinary.Neither of the trio of Bandara, Samaraweera and Herath extracted muchturn from the pitch.Indeed at the time the Zimbabwean’s greatest threat appeared to be theirrunning between the wickets. Malinga Bandara should have run out AndyBlignaut just prior to his fifty. Sent back by his partner, Blignaut was wellshort of the crease when Bandara hesitated and then fumbled the ball atbackward square. An offence that induced a fearful rollicking from recentTest cap, Tillekaratne Dilshan, in the gully.Embarrassingly for Dilshan he missed the next run out just two overslater. This time fielding at backward square to Daniel Peacock hefumbled the ball and the batsmen survived. The fielding lapse meant thatDaniel Peacock had been missed twice. Crucially Chamara Silvadropped him just before lunch in the slips. Possibly a crucial miss in agame that could well be low scoring due the uneven bounce of thiswicket.However just when it looked like the honours would be shared at theclose, the impressive Gallage slipped a ball through the defence ofBlignaut. Two balls later Peacock’s marathon came to an end when hetoo was bowled, this time by Weereratne, who finished the day with 4-80.The prized wicket of Blignaut was just reward for Indika Gallage whobowled splendidly throughout the day, but especially in the morningsession. Removing the unlucky Gavin Rennie (0) with just his secondball he went on to trouble all the batsmen. The tall fast bowler with a highaction consistently hit the seam and frequently surprised the batsmensome extra bounce. Neil Ferreira (35) who had held the innings togetherin the morning ducked into a bouncer from Gallage and was forced tochange his helmet.As is often the case the best bowler did not pick up the wickets.Kaushalya Weereratne picking up three wickets in the morning session,including the prized wicket of in-form Mark Vermeulen (15). Later on hehad Dion Ebrahim (12) caught behind and Craig Wishart (6) caught in thegully.On a pitch that is uneven in bounce and unlikely to get any better,Zimbabwe can relax tonight knowing that things could have been a lotworse. At least they have runs on the board and they have somebatsmen to come. Sri Lanka will be kicking themselves for missingPeacock before lunch. Nevertheless they have an extremely powerfulbatting line up, all of whom will be looking forward to a bat against theZimbabweans. With Pakistan and South Africa coming here in June thestakes are high.